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Buying a Dana 44

K

katarn444

NAXJA Forum User
Location
northeast
I found a Dana44 at a junk yard that I am planning on purchacing. I have never bought an axle before and just had some questions before I spend the cash. Things to check, gearing, lsd, fluid, bearings, seals?

If there is no tag on it I will check the gearing by spinning a wheel and counting the turns of the pinion, easy enough. If there is no tag how do I know if it has a LSD. If it does have an LSD the clutch pack will most likely be toast, what happenes to the axle, can it still be used? Do I have to replace the clutches? How much do they cost and where do you get them?

I will drain the fluid and see if there are any metal flacks in it, but how to I know if the bearings are any good? I will buy it anyway but maybe I can get some money off if they are no good.

If it is leaking fluid out of the tubes clearly a seal has gone.

Any thing else to look for? I have been searching and reading and everyone says they are pretty expensive to rebuild. Any good places to get bearings and seals, Randy's R&P?

Thank you very much for the assitance.
Katarn
 
That does not sound like a bad deal, I have seen people pay over $500 for a used one. I do not want to spend that kind of money on it though. I am getting a pretty good deal on this one. If I have to put a lot of money into it I might just sell it. I really do not need it just sort of want it. Plus I am hoping to buy rear disks and did not want to spend money on my D35.

Thanks
 
Sounds gay, but E-bay motors worked for me. A dude in Pa had one from an 87 XJ. most of them are from 87 XJ's. Most of them seem to have 3.54 or 3.07:1 gearing. If you are lucky the lsd will be old and toast so you can buy a good locker for it. Mine was an open diff. Not anymore.
 
ahhh the Dana 44. I paid 80 bucks for mine out of a 87 in J/Y in Scranton. I did a complete restore on this axle because I needed the gears and the detroit installed anyhow.

So total cost for mine was about 1000 or little over until I got the axle in my jeep.

Check the drums (52.00 a piece) if you need new ones, check all the bearings and such because this can add to the cost, also wheel cylinders and other brake parts. You will also need new e brake cables. These things add up and can easly cost more than it should. So the 400 "bolt in axle" can cost a lot more than that.


_________________________________________________________________

90' xj RE 5.5 Dana 44 rear locked and 4.88's rolling on 35's with lots of trimming.

My home www.pa-wheeling.com Pictures, video and other stuff about wheeling in Pa.
 
If that pix is right, it definately is NOT a Dana44
 
Lunatic's price is pretty fair... I built one from a NOS MJ axle, and I figure I had apprx 850 in it (new/old axle + new gears + spool + oil + springpads/shock mts) If I was starting with a used axle, I'd replace all the bearings/seals IF spending the $$$ for traction diffs & regearing. If not regearing, probably not right away. :dunno:

Without a tag, turn one shaft in either direction, if the oppsoite shaft turns the same way, it has a Track Loc limited slip that works... If it turns opposite, it's either open or a worn out T/L. The clutch rebuild kit is apprx $75 if you chose to keep the TL in there. To check the ratio, turn the pinion as many times as it takes to spin a shaft 1x. If it takes 3.07 turns, 3.54 turns, 4.10 turns etc... that is the axle gear ratio.

Rawbrown (Ryan) on this forum has good prices on gears, install kits and such.
 
If it is a 3.55 it is going right in. For now I am only planning on running 30's. If they are not 3.55's it will be sold because I do not want to spend the money on swapping gears right now.

I was planning on putting disks on the D35 and then I started looking into it and decided to look around for a 44 to spend the money on. Most suggest replacing the bearings when putting on the disks since you have it apart anyway. So instead of $60 plus the disks invested in the 35 might as well put it into a 44.

I read that the clutch packs in the LSD only last 50,000 miles, true?

Thanks for the info.
katarn
 
katarn444 said:
I found a Dana44 at a junk yard that I am planning on purchacing. I have never bought an axle before and just had some questions before I spend the cash. Things to check, gearing, lsd, fluid, bearings, seals?

If there is no tag on it I will check the gearing by spinning a wheel and counting the turns of the pinion, easy enough. If there is no tag how do I know if it has a LSD. If it does have an LSD the clutch pack will most likely be toast, what happenes to the axle, can it still be used? Do I have to replace the clutches? How much do they cost and where do you get them?

I will drain the fluid and see if there are any metal flacks in it, but how to I know if the bearings are any good? I will buy it anyway but maybe I can get some money off if they are no good.

If it is leaking fluid out of the tubes clearly a seal has gone.

Any thing else to look for? I have been searching and reading and everyone says they are pretty expensive to rebuild. Any good places to get bearings and seals, Randy's R&P?

Thank you very much for the assitance.
Katarn
Click to expand...
Unless it's a u-pull yard, they should know what ratio it is. They should at least know what it came out of -- if the XJ had a 5-speed and 4.0L it's 3.07 gears, if it was a 4.0L automatic it has 3.54 gears. If it was a 4-cyl XJ, the ratio could be anything from 3.31 to 4.10 or maybe even 4.54.

Don't even worry about the bearing condition. You should plan and budget to replace the bearings if you buy a used axle out of a yard, unless it's from a late-model, low-mileage vehicle.

If it has trac-lok, the clutch kits are now around $75 and you should be ably to buy it from any of the gear and differential shops, such as Drivetrain Direct, or Raw Brown right here on the NAXJA forum.
 
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